


On the Voler Espoir

by QueenofHearts7378



Category: American Dragon: Jake Long, Brave (2012), Danny Phantom, How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja, Rise of the Guardians (2012), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, Dragons, Gen, I didn't realize this when I started writing, More characters to come, Pirates, another hiccup runs away thing, but this whole ship is full of emotionally unstable teenagers, full of teenage angst, i don't know what else to put, i just want them all to be pirates, it'll be told in story arcs, its an angst ship, like a literal ship, like....a lot more, not like a relationship, this is mainly practice, this will be fun, with other characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-16
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-04-14 20:45:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4579425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenofHearts7378/pseuds/QueenofHearts7378
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hiccup left Berk before killing the dragon. But when he left, he wasn't expecting to be picked up by pirates. Pirates with hero complexes....and unnatural powers. But hey, maybe he'll fit in with the strange and quirky crew of the Voler Espoir.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Free

"-Leaving! We're leaving. Let's pack up. Looks like you and me are taking a little vacation....forever."

Hiccup adjusted the riding gear buckle on his waist as he stood up. He looked around the cove where a single choice had changed everything. 

Everything Hiccup thought he knew about dragons. His perspective went from the inside to out. No longer could he stay here on Berk after seeing what dragons were really like. Especially not if he's going to be liked for something he hates. And he's definitely not staying if he's been tasked with killing a dragon.

Hiccup sighed and ran a hand through his hair, looking around for Toothless. 

He felt like he should say something. Something....meaningful. After all, he is defying tradition. Doing something no other Viking had done before. 

He opened his mouth....

....and squealed (very manly mind you) when Toothless jumped on him from behind and started licking him.

"Ach! Tooth-Toothless! Yuck!" Hiccup squirmed under the dragon's tongue while trying to protect his face. 

Toothless got up off him, tongue lolling as he smiled in his own toothless way.

Hiccup gave the happy dragon a playful glare. "You know that doesn't wash out." Hiccup stood, wiping his slimy hands on his pants. He crinkled his nose. Great, now he smelled like fish.

He turned back to the basket full of supplies. Food, clothes, extra money, his notebooks full of his dragon and blacksmithing notes, and some spare seaxes. He also brought the Viking helmet his dad gave him. 

Hiccup touched the top, a guilty pang shooting through his head, before pulling out a simple chest. 

It was his from the chief's house. He used to keep his writing utensils and other small knick knacks stored in the small chest. 

It was made of simple oak wood. One foot in length, half a foot in width and depth. The Berk crest used as the latch and Hiccup's name carved on the bottom by his own shaky hand from years ago.

Now, different letters to different people rest in it. One to Gobber, one to his father, one to the village elder Gothi, and one to Fishlegs. There really wasn't anyone else worth leaving a letter to. Well, maybe Astrid, but he seen how she had been acting lately. 

He might not be the best when it comes to social interactions, but he knew when someone was jealous. And Astrid? She was angry jealous. Jealous of something he didn't want. 

Hiccup shook his head, placing the box on top of the tall boulder next to him.

By now, Toothless knows something is wrong. He walks up to Hiccup, nudging his head under his hand and croons questionably. 

Hiccup smiles, patting the head of his scaley best friend. "I'm good. Come on bud. Let's go before Astrid finds us. I know she's been following me lately."

Toothless nodded and Hiccup fixed the basket to where it can ride behind him. 

Hiccup mounted Toothless and they flew up together. The sun was just touching the horizon and was casting a golden glow over what was his home. Hiccup saw a tiny blonde speck walking towards the cove, throwing a glinting object at nearby trees. Hiccup winced. Astrid was closer than he thought. A few more moments and she would have spotted them.

Hiccup and Toothless glided over the island flying above the training academy. Hiccup paused, hovering there for a moment before flying back down. It was risky, but it wouldn't take long. 

By the time the sun was halfway down, Hiccup was soaring over the sea with Toothless, the five newly released dragons flying with them in a scattered formation. Toothless seemed a little miffed. 

Hiccup smiled and laid a hand on the side of his neck, "Oh don't be like that bud. If I had left them there they would've been killed."

Toothless let out a sound, sounding like he was grudgingly agreeing with him.

Hiccup laughed.

________________

Four days.

Hiccup had run away from Berk four days ago. Four of the five dragons had eventually left one by one. Only the Terrible Terror stayed, which Hiccup had affectionately named Tumble. The little dragon had to be the most ungraceful and uncoordinated thing ever to hit the skies. He was always tumbling down.

By now, all of his food had run out. He had no problem feeding Toothless. The dragon just dived into the ocean whenever he got hungry. Sure it got Hiccup's pants soaked, and Tumble usually ended up falling in, but it fed his dragons so Hiccup didn't complain. Much.

Right now, they were resting on a small island. The sun was setting and Hiccup had just woken up from a small nap. The tired boy shook the leaves out of his hair as he stood up. Tumble opened one eye from where he was sleeping and chirped at Hiccup. He waved at the little dragon and walked to the edge of the sea, washing his face in the cool waters. He looked at the setting sun.

"We need to get some more supplies soon," Hiccup said, talking to the two dragons as much as to himself. Toothless warbled in agreement, but didn't open his eyes. Tumble sat up blearily, wobbling a little before falling off the saddle, squawking loudly in protest.

Hiccup laughed and walked back over to the two reptiles. He started poking Toothless in the side. "Come on you lazy lizard, we got to go. There's a village a short flight away and we need some supplies. You can sleep more when we get there."

Toothless grunted and swiped at the boy with a wing. Hiccup ducked and glared at Toothless. Then he walked over to the few fish leftover and picked up a big, slimy one. 

Hiccup narrowed his eyes at the grumpy dragon before smacking him in the face with the fish. 

Tumble started laughing in draconic laughter. Toothless opened his eyes as the slimy cod slid down his nose. He glared at his human rider. Hiccup put on his most innocent face.

"Are you up now?" Hiccup asked with a smile. Toothless rolled his eyes and say up, grumbling all the while. 

Hiccup went around checking the harness and pulleys. "We need to get some oil too." He muttered as he noticed some of the metal squeaking in protest. Hiccup sighed, walking around and gathering the supplies that had been left out earlier. Putting them all in the basket he took with him from Berk, then putting that on the saddle behind where he sits, Hiccup mounted Toothless. Tumble jumped up and settled on his spot atop the basket for the journey.

"Let's fly!"

The journey wasn't very long. The sun just finished setting when Hiccup and the dragons landed on a hidden beach on the far side of the island. The walls were steep enough so no human would dare attempt to climb them. 

Hiccup saw the lights of the smallish village twinkling in the distance. It was about half the size of Berk and seemed to suffer less dragon attacks if the age of the buildings was anything to go by.

Hiccup jumped off of Toothless when they hit the ground and pulled the basket down. Tumble flew down to meet them, stumbling a bit on the landing. The little dragon walked behind Hiccup, tripping over a rock a couple times. 

Toothless settled down on a flat rock slab, heating it up before curling up on it. Tumble flew up and curled up by his side. Hiccup followed soon after.

_________________

It was just beginning to get light out when Hiccup was jerked awake by someone grabbing him with ice cold hands. He let out a strangled yell as he fought back. He felt the air whip around him almost like he was flying and heard Toothless let out a roar. 

"Hey, hey! Chill dude!" Came a young male voice from behind him.

Yanking out of the mystery person's freezing grip, Hiccup stumbled back, looking around wildly for Tumble and Toothless.

"We just saved you from the dragons. You're welcome." Came the voice again.

Hiccup looked around to see who had grabbed him, eyes wide and fear racing through his heart.

All he could see was someone, taller than him wearing a brown cloak with the hood up to where he couldn't see his face. A wooden staff hooked at the hand in one hand, the other revealed a hand held up in surrender. Underneath he could make out a pale blue sweater and brown trousers, but he wore no shoes. Frost seemed to coat his shoulders, trousers, and staff.

"Are you nuts!" Hiccup yelled at him before racing back to where the camp was. "TOOTHLESS! TUMBLE!"

He heard the guy mutter under his breath and then start racing after him. "Hey wait!"

Hiccup ignored the cloaked figure gaining on him and ran straight to where the hidden beach was. He could hear Toothless roaring and Tumble squawking out in terror. 

Hiccup, in a rare act of adrenaline infused grace, leapt over a fallen log and landed in the sand of the beach. 

There he saw two more cloaked figures. The was a short, plump figure in a black cloak. At a quick glance, Hiccup saw black boots, dark green trousers, and a dark blue shirt like his. A black belt was around his waist and a single black feather hung from the left side next to a blood red pouch.

The other figure was about as tall as him, more feminine, and easily the most intimidating of the three he had seen. A black cloak covered her like the other two. She wore heavy, buckled boots tipped with a steel plate, dark purple leggings, a black skirt with metal plates like Astrid wore, and a black long-sleeved top. A bronze metal dagger rested at her hip.

Both were trying to avoid the heavy plasma blasts Toothless was firing at them in his anger.

"TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup ran and tackled the black dragon in a hug, calming him down. "It's ok bud. Calm down." He looked at the three cloaked figures, staring dumbfounded at the pair. Tumble flew in like a bullet and rested on Hiccup's head, eyes wide with fear and curiosity. 

"You just scared them. Toothless is a little overprotective."

There was a pause as the trio processed what he said. Then the two boys burst out laughing.

"We scared them?" Asked the petite girl. (Hiccup now knew it was a girl by the voice.) "that overgrown lizard of yours is the one that kept shooting exploding fireballs at us!"

The short one sniggered, "Oh I bet Goggles and Dragon would love to meet this group." The boys burst out laughing again.

"W-well you probably threatened him. A-and you kidnapped me. That usually causes him to attack."

The girl shook her head, "Unbelievable. Anyways, what's your name? You can call me Chaos. The idiots that won't stop laughing are Frost and Tengu."

Hiccup started to relax, though Toothless still glared at them. "My name's Hiccup." He chose to ignore the sniggering of the other two boys. "This is Toothless, a Nightfury." He gestured to the black reptile, who snarled revealing all his pointy teeth. "And Tumble, a Terrible Terror." Tumble raised his head, perching on Hiccup's head like a cat, before squawking at them. 

"You named a Nightfury, Toothless." Chaos asked disbelievingly. Hiccup nodded with a sheepish smile.

"Well that's stupid." Tengu said bluntly as he recovered from his laughing fit with Frost. "He obviously has teeth. Why's the little one named Tumble?" 

Hiccup went cross eyed as he looked up at the dragon on his head. "He has got to be the clumsiest thing ever. He's always tumbling off things." Tumble looked down at Hiccup, gave a squawk of indignation, and jumped off the young Viking. Halfway down he lived up to his name as he face planted into the sand.

"They should meet Nomicon and the Captain."

Chaos and Tengu looked at Frost in shock. Hiccup frowned at them. 

"What? Them? Seriously?" Tengu asked, shock in his voice.

Chaos tilted her head, "Is it one of your feelings, Frost?"

He nodded enthusiastically. 

Chaos turned back to Hiccup and his dragons. "Would you like to come with us? Get some food and drinks for you and the dragons?"

Hiccup blinked, shocked. "You mean you aren't going to kill us?"

Chaos froze and the two boys groaned. "Oh boy." The said together. 

"Kill you? Why would we kill?" Chaos asked in a near deathly whisper.

Hiccup found himself cringing away from the girl. "W-well most people would - they would kill Toothless and Tumble on sight. You know, since-since they're dragons an-and all." He said as he stuttered nervously.

"Why would anyone want to kill those beautiful animals!" She shrieked. Everyone else flinched at the volume and pitch. She seemed ready to go on a long rant but Frost grabbed her shoulder. 

"Let's just go eat. I'm sure the others are waiting for us."

Chaos took a deep breath, "Fine." She turned on her heel and stormed off into a cave Hiccup didn't see the night before. "The ship's this way!" She hollered behind her.

Hiccup grabbed the basket with all his stuff and followed the cloaked trio through the dark cave, Toothless and Tumble trailing after him.


	2. First Impressions

"So, um, where exactly are we going?" Hiccup asked as they walked through the dark cave.

"To the ship." Chaos said plainly as she leapt over a stalagmite. Or was it a stalactite? Hiccup couldn't be bothered with the difference between them.

"Oh a ship. Yeah that explains everything." Hiccup said sarcastically. "So are you traders?"

"Not unless you count trading witty banter." Frost said lightly as he played around the stalagmites (or was it stalactites? Eh, whatever.)

"Or lame one-liners." Tengu added. 

"I prefer my blatant sarcasm." Chaos snorted and Hiccup chose to ignore that. "So you aren't traders. And you aren't Vikings otherwise the dragons would be dead....and so would I now that I think about. Actually you seem to be pretty cool about the whole thing. Um, why is that exactly?"

Tengu shrugged. "We're pretty used to weird situations. Makes us more open minded."

"That and we've met some decent dragons so it's not entirely impossible to meet a Viking with dragon friends. Just unlikely." Chaos jumped over a puddle. 

Toothless snorted behind him and Hiccup could just imagine his response. :/Yeah, just highly unlikely as in Vikings are always killing us.\:

"Ok. Cool. Now back to what I was saying before, if you're not traders than you must be...." Hiccup trailed off, his mouth gaping as he stared at the large ship in front of him.

"....pirates." He finished lamely. "Of course. I run into thieving pirates."

"We only have one thief actually." Frost said as he jumped from rock to rock. "And Rider only steals from the rich or criminals." He paused, balancing on one foot, "And also when he's pranking us."

"We aren't your usual pirates." Hiccup looked at Chaos questionably. "I guess you could say we're pirates with hero complexes."

Hiccup raised an eyebrow. 

"We're the good guys!" Tengu said while he crossed his arms. "We help people in need, steal from evil shoobs to give to the less fortunate, stop the bad guys from ruling the world and all that cheese."

"Um...ok?" Hiccup didn't know what shoobs were or how cheese came into the situation but he shrugged it off. "Wait. So why am I coming along with you?"

At this, the trio paused. Frost sighed, "That's....a little more complicated." He said slowly.

Hiccup narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "I'm smarter than you're average Viking. Enlighten me."

Frost looked to Chaos helplessly. She shrugged, "Captain Phantom, Counsler, and Nomicon are better at explaining. Please Hiccup. Just trust us."

Hiccup hesitated. Not because he didn't trust them. But because he really did trust them, even though he just met them. It was strange really, but something inside him just told him he could trust this strange group of pirates.

"Alright," he relented and followed them to the ship. 

The ship itself was huge. Bigger than any of the ships back at Berk. Probably bigger than the Great Hall. The wood was black and seemed brand new. No rotting planks or barnacles decorated the sides. The sails were as white as the clouds and not a single tear in them. Hints of blood red, dark blue, gold, dark purple, and incredibly bright green decorated the railings and sides in random spots in swirling designs and symbols Hiccup had never seen before.

He took a deep breath and walked up the wooden plank to meet with the other pirates, Tumble resting on Toothless's saddle as he followed Hiccup cautiously.

Frost and Tengu mock saluted Hiccup before rushing off towards the top mast, where Hiccup could almost see a couple more cloaked figures, though he couldn't see the colors with how dark it still was that morning. 

Chaos gestured for Hiccup and the dragons to follow her and they started walking towards a grey door directly under the wheel. 

She opened it and walked down the dimly lit hallway and turned left at a intersection, going down a set of stairs. Surprisingly the hallway was big enough for Toothless to walk through easily. 

She went down another hallway, passing all the turn offs till she came to a dark red door. A black wooden sign was placed just under a circle glass window with golden lettering in a language Hiccup didn't recognize. 

Chaos knocked four times and waited till someone shouted they could come in. 

The first thing Hiccup noticed about the room was that it was big. Like....really big. Probably the width of the ship. A large circular table, as big as the fire pit from the Great Hall sat in the center. Maps, graphs, charts, posters of criminals, and other various papers covered the walls. Swords, hammers, arrows, axes, and weapons he had no name for were stuffed in one corner and random armor parts made of various materials were stuffed in another. 

The wooden table itself seemed to be made of oak. Covering it were various daggers, plates, candles, lanterns, and decorative knickknacks. Standing at the far end of the table where two more cloaked figures.

One was as tall as Frost, but stood straighter and seemed a whole lot more serious. A pale yellow (looking like old parchment) cloak wrapped around him and was held together by an emerald gem above his heart. He wore an all black assemble underneath. A black, long-sleeved shirt whose collar cover his neck and black pants tucked into shin high boots. A blood red cloth was used as a belt, tied in a knot and the ends hung down to his knees. Thin red lines the same color as the belt accented the black top.

The other figure was a couple inches shorter than the one in the yellow cloak. He seemed a lot more relaxed than the other one. This one wore a black cloak like Chaios and Tengu, but was held together with a silver clasp in a strange shape as the other figure. Underneath Hiccup could see a white top like his own and trousers that were a pale blue tucked into black boots. A small, bright green chain hung from the right side of his hip and a long white sword hung from the left side.

Just like with Chaos, Frost, and Tengu the hoods shaded their faces so Hiccup couldn't see them. 

Once Hiccup, Toothless, and Tumble were inside the door seemed to shut on its own. Hiccup jumped slightly and looked at the door, before looking back at the two figures across the table.

Chaos nodded her head at them, "Captain Phantom. Quarter Master Nomicon."

"Hey Chaos, whose this?" The shorter nodded at Chaos, then gestured to Hiccup. His voice was light and a little higher than Hiccup was expecting. He sounded a couple years older than Hiccup.

"Hiccup." He responded giving an awkward wave.

The taller one seemed unfazed, but the shorter one seemed to let out a choked cough. Probably trying not to laugh at his name. Hiccup rolled his eyes. 

"Yeah. Great name. I know." He deadpanned. 

"No no!" The shorter one waved a hand in protest, "Just caught me off guard. Nice to meet you Hiccup. I'm Captain Phantom. This is Quarter Master Nomicon. Welcome to our ship!"

Hiccup blinked a couple of times in shock. "Ok. Thanks. Now, why am I here?"

"That is a good question." Nomicon looked to Chaos.

Chaos jerked a thumb at Hiccup, "Frost said he had a feeling about this one. Thought he should meet you two."

Hiccup raised his hands in a 'what-can-you-do' gesture, "They said there'd be food and they didn't kill Toothless or Tumble so I went with them."

"And who are-" Captain Phantom started to ask before Chaos interrupted. 

"The big black lizard is Toothless and the little green one is Tumble." Toothless growled at the girl and Tumble let out an insulted squawk. 

"They're not lizards! They're dragons!"

"Same difference. Anyways what do you think?"

"Think about what?!" Hiccup asked, frustrated.

Nomicon tapped a finger on the table as he looked at Hiccup. "There's power within him. Strong power. I can't quite tell what it is though." He stated confidently.

Hiccup rolled his eyes, "Sure. I'm extremely powerful." He stated sarcastically, "Just look at these muscles! I take down the toughest opponents easily!" 

"It is not the physical strength, but the inner strength that allows one to defeat opponents in battle." Nomicon said, crossing his arms.

"Thank you for the random wisdom of the day Nomicon." Captain Phantom said dryly. "Anyways Hiccup, I can see a good heart in you. One that is unselfish and loyal. Tell me: you're a Viking, but you are obviously best friends with two dragons. Why is that?"

Hiccup opened his mouth to say something sarcastic but paused. He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead before looking back into the green eyes of his best friend. He could almost imagine Toothless saying :/Go on and tell them. I'm hungry.\:

Hiccup smiled and shook his head. Maybe spending time with dragons only was messing with his head. He looked back to the three cloaked figures. 

"Where I used to live," he started, but resolving not to give away much information about Berk. He told his tale of how he was the village runt, how he screwed up on most days, how his inventions blew up in his face (metaphorically and literally), him finding Toothless, dragon training, building the tail fin, and finally leaving the village after freeing the captured dragons.

"For four days me, Toothless, and Tumble just traveled from island to island till we came to rest here, where we met Frost, Tengu, and Chaos."

He heard Toothless snort behind him, seemingly to say :/Met? More like they kidnapped you\:

Everything was silent for a couple moments before Hiccup asked, "Why did you want to know anyway?"

Captain Phantom laughed quietly, "I wanted to know, because I wanted to know if you were the right type of person."

Hiccup frowned, "Right type of person for what?"

"To join us pirates on the Voler Espoir."


	3. Legends

The Voler Espoir....why did that sound familiar?

And they want him to join? Even after telling them about all his failures?

Hiccup frowned. "Why does that sound familiar?" He muttered to himself.

"You've been asked to be a pirate before?" Captain Phantom asked incredulously. 

Hiccup looked at him, "No, this is the first time I've been asked to join a pirate crew. The name of you're ship sounds familiar."

Captain Phantom tilted his head curiously, "Does it? I've always thought we were nothing but ghosts." He sniggered and Chaps threw a wooden ornament from the table at him, which he avoided. Nomicon just shook his head at their antics.

Hiccup's eyes widened and he snapped his fingers, "The traders from the west and the Legends of the Last Hope."

A confused "What?" came from the three cloaked pirates simultaneously. 

Hiccup blinked, "You haven't heard?" They shook their heads. "Well about two years ago, back when I was twelve, these three traders visited for a week. Said they were from the far west. On the last day they told us about the Legends of the Last Hope. When all is lost, your home is burned, your friends are in Valhalla, and the enemy thinks they have won, a ship as black as night will sail to you. Then a crew with powers blessed upon them by the gods will restore your hope. They will defeat the enemy, will feed the hungry, build shelters and disappear into the night never to be seen again. If you're stranded in the ocean, they will find you and take you to the nearest shore. If you have lost all, the Voler Espoir can and will always be your last hope."

When he finished reciting what the traders from the west said, he was met with silence. Then Captain Phantom said, "Technically, 'Voler Espoir' means Flying Hope....but close enough."

"I didn't realize we had racked up a reputation." Chaos said thoughtfully, "I wonder if Gossip knows about it."

"We can speculate our reputation on the seas another time," Nomicon said, raising a hand, "Now, we must have an answer."

All three pirates turned to look at Hiccup. "What about Toothless and Tumble?"

"If you agree to become part of the crew of the Voler Espoir, Toothless and Tumble will become a part of it too. We won't kick them off the ship if you're worried about that." Captain Phantom said flippantly.

"What would we do?"

"Every crew member has a job that they must do. Usually it is something that appeals to their strengths and talents. No offense but we wouldn't exactly have you raise anchor. Frost, with his balance, makes and excellent Rigger. Dragon is our Master Gunner and Goggles is our Carpenter. Everyone works to help keep the ship clean. It's easier that way than having a few people set to clean the ship. And then there are our special missions. We'll figure out what you're capable of doing, before sending you out. So you'll stay with the ship and watch for intruders and other fruitloops."

"And the dragons? What would they do?"

"Toothless would make an excellent guard if he wanted to and I assume he can easily catch fish. He can help with jobs he knows he is capable of doing. So long as he helps with something. Tumble can do whatever so long as he doesn't get into trouble. I wouldn't want him getting hurt."

Hiccup smiled, "You have got to be the strangest group of people I have ever met....I would love to join." He turned to the two dragons, "What do you think bud? Want to join a pirate crew?"

Toothless grinned his toothless grin and his eyes lit up with the hope for adventure. Hiccup turned back to the Captain with a huge smile. "He's in."

Even though Hiccup couldn't see his face, he got the impression that Captain Phantom was grinning underneath. "Excellent. Welcome to the Crew of the Voler Espoir. There's some more things to go over, but we'll wait till we're out to sea."

There was a knock on the door and Frost stuck his cloaked head in, "All ready to set sail, Captain. Waiting on your word."

"Thanks Frost. Chaos-"

"I know Phantom. I'm on it."

Hiccup heard Frost scoff from the doorway, "Lovebirds."

"We aren't lovebirds!" Captain Phantom and Chaos shouted simultaneously. Hiccup covered his mouth and turned his head to hide the laugh that was escaping. Frost didn't bother to hide his as he walked back the way he came, Chaos following shortly after. 

"Nomicon?"

"I need to talk to Counsler. I have a question to ask her."

Captain Phantom nodded his head. "Alright. Hiccup, you, Toothless ,and Tumble can follow me."

Captain Phantom walked around the table and out the door, Hiccup and the dragons following him, and Nomicon bringing up the rear before he turned off into a different hallway. 

They walked in a comfortable silence till they reached the grey door that led outside.

Captain Phantom reached inside of a small closet to the left that Hiccup didn't notice before, and pulled out a light brown cloak. "Here. It's temporary till you have your own. Pull your hood up till I give you the all clear."

Hiccup took the cloak and pulled it around him, frowning as it dragged on the floor some. It was probably three inches too long. He flipped the hood up and it nearly covered his eyes. Captain Phantom seemed to grimace. "Yeah, we'll get you a new one that actually fits better soon. Just stay with me as we set sail."

Hiccup nodded and they walked out.

The first thing Hiccup noticed was that the sun was up and it was bright. He blinked his eyes, adjusting to the bright glare as he walked behind Captain Phantom. 

He also noticed more of the ship's crew. He saw Frost up high on a mast, messing with a rope, and Tengu was at the bottom wrapping it around a handle. Other than them, there were three others.

The first was the tallest he had seen yet, standing a four inches above Nomicon. He wore a light grey cloak similar to Tengu's and Frost's, hood up to once again conceal the features. He was hanging off the side of one of the rope riggings so Hiccup could clearly see the outfit underneath. He wore a white shirt like Captain Phantom's with a pale blue vest over it. The top tucked into light brown trousers that tucked into dark brown boots.

Then there was a girl in a pale-ish orange cloak. She wore a long sleeve shirt the color of parchment with a red vest hanging unbuttoned over it. Matching red cloth wrapped around her forearms and palms. She wore a dark, red-ish brown skirt that reminded Hiccup of rust over pale grey tights. She wore an odd pair of red shoes, none like Hiccup had seen before. They covered the toes, heels, and sides of her feet but he could see the grey tights that went over the top of her foot. Red ribbons attached to the back of the show crisscrossed twice before being tied in a knot on the back of her legs.* A thin grey belt wrapped around her waist twice, hanging a little crooked. She was walking around with a pencil and some sheets of paper, writing things down.

The last figure was the only one Hiccup had seen with the hood down, though it didn't really matter. He wore a black outfit that seemed to be one piece, covering his hands, feet, arms, legs, and torso. A red belt like Nomicon's was around his waist. A matching scarf wrapped around his neck and billowed behind him like the black cape did he wore did as he leapt between masts and sails checking the ropes and pulleys. A mask covered his whole head except his eyes, which Hiccup could see were a deep sapphire blue. Thin red lines and circles accented parts of his outfit and cape.*

Captain Phantom pointed them out to Hiccup. "That's Rider on the rigging. Gossip is the girl over there and Ninja is the one leaping around and doing unnecessary flips as he fixes the ropes. He's a total show-off." His voice was light with good humor.

Hiccup followed Captain Phantom up to the Quarterdeck as he took the hold of the oak steering wheel. "Setting sail when ready!" He shouted.

Rider finished tying up some ropes on the rigging before saluting Captain Phantom and easily climbing to the Crow's Nest. Frost and Tengu finished up what they were doing and shouted out affirmatives. Gossip wrote a quick note down on the papers and waved at the Captain before sitting down on a nearby barrel. Ninja leapt off a couple masts and flipped once, landing on his feet beside Captain Phantom. "Ready Captain!" He said in a light and cocky voice.

Hiccup felt the ship lurch under his feet and stumbled back. Toothless caught him with his head and helped him steady. "Thanks bud." Tumble chirped at Hiccup and he could just imagine Tumble saying :;Now whose tumbling?;:

Hiccup watched as the shore slowly faded away till nothing was left but a wide open ocean.

It was official. Hiccup had run away and joined a pirate crew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *They look kind like ballet shoes.
> 
> *It's his normal Ninja suit with a black cape. He only has the cape because it's required. More of this will be explained later.


	4. Counselor

[It was official. Hiccup had run away and joined a pirate crew.]

 Hiccup never thought he find something he loved as much as flying.

 But that was before he rode on the Voler Espoir. Now Hiccup knew why it was called the ‘ _Flying_ ' Hope.

 The sea air hit his face, threatening to pull the ill-fitting hood of his head. The boat dipped and swayed as it rolled through the waves. It so unlike any any of the other boats he'd been on before. Those were just little fishing boats though, nothing compared to the gigantic pirate ship he would now live on.

 Blue was _everywhere_. Blue and white. Hiccup couldn't tell where the sea ended and the sky began. Only the soft white foam of the waves rising up and down broke the horizon line. It was so different from the near constant grayish waters that surrounded Berk.

 For five minutes Captain Phantom steered the ship away from the land. It wasn't until the island faded away and blue was all they could see that Phantom pressed his hand to the center of the wheel. Hiccup's curiosity was aroused as he heard a soft click.

 "What was that?" He asked looking at the wheel thoughtfully.

 "We call it an auto-sail. It keeps us from going off course. Press the button and the wheel is locked into place, only shifting to move with a current and wind direction. Can't move it till you release the lever holding it in place."

 Hiccup barely heard him as he rushed over to the wheel and started rambling as he poked, prodded, and examined the device. “How does the button activate the mechanism? Gears? Pulleys? How do you keep it from getting stuck? Do you have any blueprints left? What-”

 “ _Hiccup_!” Captain Phantom interrupted.

 Hiccup paused with his mouth open, then closed it as he sheepishly looked back to the Captain. “Sorry.”

 Captain Phantom shook his head, laughing quietly. “It's fine Hiccup. And Goggles still has the blueprints in the inventions room. But for now we need to introduce you to someone.”

Hiccup reluctantly drew back, his fingers itching to take the wheel apart to figure out what made it work. But he nodded and followed the young captain back down to the main deck, the warmer salt air still tugging at the hood of his cloak.

Toothless perked up at something and bounded over to the other side of the ship. He hung his head off the edge while he wrarbled and crooned at something Hiccup couldn’t see. Tumble squeaked at the black dragon he was resting on before flying ungracefully onto Hiccup’s shoulder.

Instead of walking through the grey door like Hiccup thought they would, Captain Phantom led them to the front end of the ship where there was a dark brown door off to the right. Stairs met them immediately as they stepped through, railings on the side not against the wall.

Hanging between posts and columns, at different heights and in various colors, were hammocks. Pillows and blankets were strewn here and there, hanging off the hammocks, and just in a general mess. Knickknacks, ribbons, beads, lanterns, and other various decoratives  hung from both the hammocks and small shelves Hiccup hadn't seen before.

In general, it looks like a mess. Like someplace many messy teens shared.

“This is the sleeping quarters. Will get you a hammock set up later. Toothless in tumble can sleep in here or outside, whichever they prefer.”

“Do you sleep here too?” Hiccup asked as they weaved through the mess.

“Yeah. I prefer sleeping near my friends. S–uh, Chaos says it's my soft heart.”

Hiccup frowned, “I don't know much about pirates, but isn't the captain supposed to sleep in a different part of the ship?”

“It's a suggestion. And we aren't exactly a normal band of pirates.”

Hiccup snorted, “Obviously.” Tumble barked out some draconic laughter, his tail curling snugly around Hiccup’s neck for better balance.

Captain Phantom ducked through a doorway, soft gray cloth replacing a normal door.

As Hiccup passed through the cloth, his eyes widen comically at the room.

Books were _everywhere_. The wall seem to be made of shelves, each one stuffed with as many books as possible. Thick, thin, tall, short, blue, black, brown, red, old, new, leather–bound, wrapped in twine. Scrolls and odd bits of paper stuck out neatly from cabinets behind a simple writing desk. Half–melted candles littered the desk along with discarded quills and charcoal pencils. Three wooden chairs were sitting in front of the desk and a faint, flowery aroma clung to the room.

Never had Hiccup seen so many books in one place before. He had his own of course, four or five, that had helped him invent most of his inventions. The town had two copies of the Dragon Manual. (One of which was in Hiccup’s basket on the main deck.) Elder Gothi had two or three for herbal medicine and stuff like that. Fishlegs may have an odd book or two but he didn't know for sure.

Vikings don't read books. As Snotlout once so very eloquently put it, _‘Why read words when you can just hit the stuff the word to tell you stuff about._ ' This was most of the Vikings' line of thought. Just another thing to separate him from normal Vikings: because hiccup loved books. Loved learning new things. His mine couldn't rest till he knew how something worked, or found an undiscovered island. One of the things that drew him to Toothless in the beginning was the near overwhelming _newness_ of the whole situation, and then he learned so much more with every visit to his best friend.

Sometimes Hiccup thinks that it wasn't his lack of physical strength that set him off from Berkians. Muscles can always be gained eventually through training and working out. It was his unsatisfiable curiosity and pure desire to learn that distance to him. Hiccup wanted to change things, make things better and easier. He wanted to introduce new things into the Viking way. Berk and the surrounding isles were set in their ways. They liked it traditional, predictable. 'If it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, and walks like a duck, then it's a duck.’

If Hiccup was being honest with himself, he would poke and prod duck to make sure it wasn't a goose in disguise.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts and ogling of the books that he didn't notice the figure come in till Phantom introduced her.

“Counselor, this is Hiccup. He's our newest recruit. I need you to go over things with him.”

Hiccup snapped to attention to study the slender girl in front of him. She was a head taller than Hiccup, forcing him to look up. A very light gray hoodie covered her features and clasped at the throat. She wore a black, long sleeve top with her sleeves flaring at the end. A teal, thin leather corset fit snug on her stomach, matching the tasseled shawl that went around her waist over an ankle length, black skirt. Hints of bright orange hair straight out of her hood. She held her hand out.

“It's a pleasure to meet you Hiccup. We have quite a bit to talk about.” She sounded very formal and a bit of a know–it–all as Hiccup shook her hand.

Phantom turn to leave saying, “Try not to break his mind, sis. I happen to like him and we don't need a vengeful Night Fury tearing the ship apart.”

Hiccup didn't bother defending Toothless. He knew his best bud _would_ actually tear the ship apart if Hiccup came out scathed. Tumble seemed to agree.

“No promises Little Brother.” She called out to his back. They heard him laugh as he made his way through the labyrinth of a sleeping quarters.

“‘Little Brother?’” Hiccup questioned.

“He is my little brother but two years.” She guested to the seats behind him and sat down on her own behind the desk. “Now,” she started once Hiccup was seated, “I'm sure you've noticed by now we are at your usual pirates.”

“After seeing your non-bloodthirsty and generally clean ways….yeah, I noticed.” Hiccup said with a bit of sarcasm leaking into his voice.

Counselor shook her head, mumbling under her breath. Something about ‘another smart-mouthed teenager.’ but he wasn’t for sure. Tumble seemed to think it was funny.

“When you first met Phantom and Nomicon, Nomicon said something about you. Do you remember what it was?”

Hiccup tapped a finger on his leg, thinking back to when he met Nomicon and Phantom.

“He said something about power….” He started slowly, “That there was a strong power within me, but he couldn’t tell what….” Hiccup trailed off, confused as to where this was headed.

Counselor nodded, “What I’m about to tell you is going to sound nuts, I’ll admit it. But I need you to listen before you make any judgements.”

A little ominous but Hiccup nodded his consent anyway.

She leaned forward and rested her elbows comfortably on the desk. “That legend you told Phantom and Nomicon does have some truth in it. Everyone on this ship has a story. Some of us were cast out from our homes, chased out, or ran away.” She nodded her head towards him. “Others never had a place to call home or a family to live with. They found one here, and we do everything we can to help others. To ensure innocents don’t suffer the same fates as some of us did.”

This is where she paused, hesitant to continue. So many potential crew members have fled after learning the truth behind their success.

“That is one thing everyone who has joined the crew have in common. Another is that we all have a power.”

Hiccup blinked once, twice, a third time before speaking up. “Power. What kind-what do you mean?”

Counselor bowed her head slightly, “I mean the kind of power people want to weaponize. To use for personal gain. The kind of power people don’t understand.”

“And people fear what they can’t understand.” Hiccup muttered quietly, his eyes on Tumble and his thoughts on the dragons. After a moment he looked back up at her, “ _Everyone_ on this ship has a power?”

Counselor nodded, her shoulders untensing. “Yep. Some of us have wild, crazy powers. Some of us have more calmer powers that are easier to hide. Almost all of us were born with them. Ninja was chosen, and to some extent so was Tengu. Red had years to hone her skills to the point of perfection and Phantom….he was in a horrible accident that gave him his powers.”

Hiccup stayed quiet for a moment, “You really think I have a power?”

Counselor leaned back in her chair, “Of course. Nomicon said so. He can sense the magic running through people’s blood. Eh, along with some other stuff. Frost wouldn’t have brought you either unless he felt you had something special.”

She stood up and Hiccup followed suit. Tumble squawked as he fell to the floor. “It’s almost time for lunch and since you haven’t run away in terror I assume you’ll be staying with us?”

Hiccup let out a small laugh, “Yeah. Seems so.”

Jazz walked around the desk and patted his shoulder, “You’ll figure it out. Powers are unique to each person. Sometimes it takes a little while to discover it.”

“Thanks,” Hiccup sighed in relief.

The floor buzzed underfoot, startling Hiccup and Tumble. Counselor shooker her head. “That’s the signal. It’s safe to remove our hoods.”

Hiccup took his off thankfully. The too big cloak was really getting on his nerves.

Counselor took hers off to reveal a teenager several years older than him with a pretty face, long and straight orange hair, and teal eyes.

“Come on.” She opened the door and gestured for him to follow, “It’s lunchtime and you need to meet the rest of the crew.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well it's been a while. I've gotten a Deviant Art and I've drawn quick sketches of what some characters look like in this story. I don't know how to post links just yet, but my DA username is QueenofHearts73.


	5. Lunching With Pirates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiccup has his first lunch with the crew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just saying, this has got to be my favorite chapter yet, I am so proud of it.

Hiccup didn’t know what to expect when he followed counselor to the eating room. Everything on the ship was so unpredictable, from the people to the ship itself.

(He was pretty sure the inside of the ship was about twice as big as it appeared to be on the outside, but he wasn't sure how it would be possible without breaking laws of nature.)

The sun was high overhead when Hiccup and Counselor stepped out onto the main deck. Toothless bounded over with an excited look on his face. Tumble fell sleepily off of Hiccup’s shoulders and situated himself on the saddle of the bigger dragon. 

It honestly shocked Hiccup how casually the crew was accepting him and the dragons. Especially the dragons.

And he voiced this to the red head who was leading them through the hallways.

“We're used to the more strange and unique side of things. Many people and creatures have passed through this ship. Not to mention the ones we help and defeat along the way. You're actually a more normal person than what we usually deal with.” She smiled at him, “But maybe that makes you all the more special.”

He frowned at the ground, not really believing her but not voicing it.

She groaned into her hands. “Hiccup did I tell you what my special power was?”

“No?”

She crossed her arms and faced him. “I'm an empath. It means I can tell what a person is feeling. Like I can feel and understand what they are feeling like it was my own.”

Hiccup blinked at her.

“I can feel all your self doubt and depreciation. Danny never did tell me what happened that brought you here yet. But already I can tell that you were put through some emotional neglect. People told you that you couldn't do something so many times, that even though you tried to prove them wrong, there was always that little voice whispering into your thoughts that denied your own skills.

“Most of that abuse did come from the people around you, but a small part of it came from yourself and that is the first thing we need to work on. Learning to appreciate yourself and realizing that the skills you have are greater than the skills people value above others.

“You are smart, creative, resourceful, inventive, patient, compassionate, and many more things that we probably have not seen yet. And I honestly look forward to when we do. You have great potential Hiccup. You just need to learn to see it in yourself.”

Hiccup stared at her dumbfounded. Jazz patted his shoulder. “Come on. Lunch is almost done and I'm sure you're hungry.” She opened a door at the end of the hallway and went inside. Laughter floated through the open doorway as Hiccup collected himself.

He looked to the two dragons next to him. “That was something. What do you guys think?”

Toothless rolled his eyes and looked at the door as if he was saying he didn't care. He just wanted to get this over with. Tumble was fast asleep in the saddle.

Hiccup’s stomach rumbled. “Yeah. You two ate already huh?”

Toothless nodded.

Hiccup took a deep breath. “Ok. I can do this. Just walk in and eat lunch. No biggie.”

The black dragon just gave him a half-lidded glare as Hiccup didn't take a step.

Hiccup caught his look, “What are you lookin’ at? I'm going to go.”

Toothless snorted and gave him a push.

He stumbled forward. “Alright, alright. I'm going. Don't get your tail in knot.”

He dodged the smack aimed for his head and walked in grinning.

Six mismatched tables were set in a ‘üruz’* shape. There were a couple round tables, some rectangular ones, and a larger square one. Chairs were scattered around them and plates were put in front of most of them. 

Some of the crew members were already there. He recognized Gossip, Tengu, Chaos, Frost and Captain Phantom.

Next to Tengu was a purple haired youth that looked as old as he was. He was joking and laughing with Tengu. Gossip interjecting every now and then and causing the two of them to groan and her to laugh.

Next to Chaos were two people he hadn't met yet either. Both of them were covered in soot and dirt. The shorter of which had his green spiked hair smoking in one spot.

Hiccup paused in the doorway, nervous of where to sit and unsure of what to do. Frost happened to look over, pausing his conversation with a insanely curly red headed girl. He waved the younger boy over.

Frost pointed him to the seat in across from him and Hiccup gratefully took it. Toothless followed and decided to nap against the wall behind his chair.

Frost grinned at him. Without the hood, Hiccup could see his wild ice covered hair and pale blue eyes filled with mischief.

“You seemed a little lost. We won't bite you know. Well, I won't. Don't know about Red.” He jerked his thumb towards the girl sitting next to him.

She tsked and swatted his hand away, “Aye’ve never bitten anyone who didn't deserve it.” She said in a thick Scottish accent.

“You bit me last week!”

“Yeh deserved it you ragadh claigeann!”

“You're Scottish.” Hiccup commented distractedly.

“Eh, naught anymore.” She waved her hand dismissively, “Judging by those furs aye’d say you were a Viking.”

“Not anymore.” Hiccup smiled at her, “I'm Hiccup.”

“Merida of DunBroch.” She shook his hand. “Code name Red.”

“So have you met everyone on the ship?” Frost asked. 

Hiccup shook his head, “No. There are still some people I don't know.”

“Oi, aye know. Took meh ages to learn everybody's name on here.” She shook her head, curls bouncing. “So who all do yeh not know yet? Mehbe we can help a wee bit.”

Hiccup pointed to the purple haired youth, who was now trying to balance a bunch of utensils on his nose.

“That's Randy. He's Nomi’s apprentice Ninja and Howard's best friend.” Frost said.

Merida sighed at Hiccup’s blank look. “Yeh probably saw him earlier wearin’ nothin’ but black and red while he did a bunch of unnecessary flips up in the riggin’.”

“Howard is Tengu.” Frost supplied helpfully.

“Oh.” Hiccup looked back to them, putting names to faces in his mind.

Hiccup turned back and noticed a pair heading over to them. One he vaguely guessed was Rider. The other was a pretty blonde in a pink dress, her eyes wide and green as she enthusiastically explained something to Rider. Her hair was braided thickly behind her yet still dragged on the floor. Flowers adorned the blonde strands.

She skipped to the table and sat down next to him, “Hi! I'm Rapunzel. You must be the new recruit Eugene was telling me about.”

“Uh-”

“Oh just ignore us!” Frost groaned out dramatically, “It's not like we're your best friends or anything!”

Merida slapped him on the back of his head, “Shut it Jack. We're all excited about meetin' the new member.”

Rider, or Eugene as he was called, patted Hiccup on the shoulder before he sat down on the other side of Rapunzel. “Don't worry kid, you'll get used to them eventually.”

“Alright you bunch of piratas famentos! I gotcha food!” A strong female voice rang out. A moment later she pushed her way into the room. Her skin was the darkest Hiccup had ever seen and her hair was wrapped in a bun on her head. Beads and gems glittered from their place in the bun as the light caught them. She wore a stained apron over her clothes. 

The girl the voice came from was waving her hand forward and Hiccup found himself ogling the sight that followed.

A dozen bowls and plates came floating out of the door behind her, moving into place wherever she flicked her fingers. They were placed in the middle of all the tables, in easy reach for everyone to grab something.

She waved her hand again and glasses came out and placed themselves at each empty plate.

“Dig in!”

Hiccup bit his lip, unsure how to continue as everyone around him started grabbing the bowls and scooping out food to put on their plates. Warm, buttery bread was grabbed out of bowls and dishes were occasionally passed around.

Jack looked at him with a smile, “Just grab what you want. Trixie always cooks enough for us.”

Hiccup started to fill his plate with some meat and vegetables. He grabbed a roll before they were gone.

Hiccup had never eaten a lunch like this.

It wasn't just the food, though it was really good. It was mainly the people around him.

Hiccup had only ever eaten lunch by himself or with his dad. Eating lunch with Stoick was usually tense and awkward. Hiccup didn't talk much during meal times for fear of embarrassing himself and/or getting that “disappointed” look again.

He was both thankful and sad whenever Stoick left and Hiccup ate by himself.

Eating in the Mead Hall somehow felt worse. Viking sneered at him and scattered when he sat at an occupied table. Whispers and insults assaulted his ears. Hiccup are his meal as quickly as possible before he fled. But he accepted it.

Once he started to excel in Dragon Training, his meal times got even more stressful. People flocked to his table shouting praises and demanding secrets. Hiccup couldn't just ignore them and eat. He had to fake a smile and force laughter. He still tried to eat as quickly as possible, but then he had to act like he wasn't betraying his whole village.

Toothless was his relief, and Hiccup soon preferred eating with him as opposed to the Vikings.

On the Voler Espoir however, things were different. People laughed and talked and teased and flicked various foods at each other.

Jack had welcomed him over almost immediately. Instead of being shunned and generally ignored, the people around him smiled and included him into conversations.

Hiccup had laughed with Rapunzel and Eugene when Jack froze the top of Merida’s drink. In return, she broke the ice and dumped it on Jack’s laughing head.

Rapunzel loved answering all of Hiccup’s. Which was fortunate as he was full of them. A lot of the questions he asked her revolved around all the new food he saw on the table. He pointed at various fruits and vegetables he had never seen nor heard of, and Rapunzel enthusiastically explained as much as she could.

Without ever realizing it, his food was gone and his stomach was full.

After the plates were emptied and food was cleaned up off the floor, Phantom stood up and called for everyone's attention.

“Since you guys are all in here together without any explosions,” he started.

“Yet!”

Phantom paused, “Yet.” He conceded. “Actually, I can't remember the last time we were all together.”

“Three weeks ago. Red Olive Island.” Gossip supplied knowingly.

“Didn't we all almost get eaten by very, very big plants?” Eugene asked.

“Diona muscipula giganticus.” Sam smirked, “Rare species. They usually aren't that big.”

The dark skinned boy next to her spoke up, “All the more reason to not eat plants.”

Cook threw a knife in between them, “Don't you start on that argument now!”

“They were absolutely marvelous!” Rapunzel exclaimed, “So beautiful! I wish I had gotten some seeds.”

Nomi coughed into his fist. “Back to the subject Danny.”

Hiccup deduced that was Phantom’s actual name. He still had no idea how he was going to remember them all.

“Right. Anything to report?”

Gossip raised her hand, “I’ve gotten reports of a small town with a growing problem of bones being stolen. McShips are currently further south, restocking supplies. Masters was last seen on his private isle and Eli is still in the Magus Barus prison. There have been zero reports of monsters stanked by the Sorcerer in the last two weeks. Everything is mostly calm.”

“Sooo….is that a good thing? Or should we be more paranoid?” Randy asked.

“I’ll figure that out later.” Danny mumbled.

“Paranoia is just having the right information.” Nomicon stated.

Randy groaned next to him, “Is now really the time for another lesson?”

“There is always time for a new lesson.” Nomicon shot his student a look. “Despite the fact that it was not my intention. You never listen to my lessons anyways.”

“I do too!”

“Does the lesson ‘Do not go into someone’s house’ ring any bells?” Nomicon raised an eyebrow.

Randy slumped in his seat, face flushed. “I had a sound reasoning.”

There was some light giggles around the table as Jazz put the subject back on track.

“Is there anything else that needs to be reported?” Danny asked.

“We need a new table in the lab.” The guy sitting next to Chaos said, “Me and Jake accidently blew it up.’

Jake, the short boy with smoking hair, just shrugged. “Sorry hund. New tests.”

Danny rolled his eyes.

Another boy raised his hand, “So uhh….we still need someone to draw maps.”

Danny sighed, “Right, right. I know. I’m working on it.”

“You can’t draw maps?” Hiccup asked incredulously.

His eyes widened as everyone’s attention drew to him. “S-sorry.”

Jazz looked at him curiously, “Don’t be. This is an open discussion. But Hiccup….can you draw maps?”

Hiccup smiled sheepishly and shrugged, “Uh, yes?”

Jack brightened, “You can? Did you draw any maps of the islands you stayed at before we found you?”

Hiccup reached into his fur vest and pulled out a small notebook. “Well yeah. I don’t have any instruments so it’s probably not accurate.”

Jack snatched the notebook from his hands, “Wow! These aren’t even accurate? Are you sure?”

Merida grabbed the book from him, “Jack! Yeh can’t just go around snatchin’ peoples stuff!”

Jack looked ready to argue with her when the book shot out of Merida’s grip and into Nomicon’s outstretched hand.

Nomicon looked over it for a minute. “While these aren’t exactly accurate, you didn’t have the correct tools after all, they are amazingly well drawn.” He handed the book to Danny.

The young pirate captain looked over it with a wide grin, “With the right instruments and practice, you could be one of the best cartographers on the seas. Spud! Looks you got a cartographer finally. Got any more hidden talents you haven't told us, Hiccup?”

“I was the blacksmith’s apprentice before I left. I ended up inventing a lot of things. Though,” Hiccup blushed, “they usually ended up exploding and helping the dragons more than the Vikings.”

Tucker and Jake perked up, “We're keeping him!” They declared.

Rapunzel reached over and poked at the harness still on his chest. “You made Toothless’s saddle and this harness didn't you? So we can add tailoring and leather making to your skills.”

Danny stood up and walked over to give Hiccup his book back. He put a hand on Hiccup’s chair.

“As you know, Hiccup is our new recruit.”

A chorus of cheers and hollers rose up from the group for a moment. Danny settled then with a wave of his hand.

“I'm sure most of you have already forced yourselves into his personal space. If not, I'm sure you will soon.”

Everybody laughed lightly at that.

“He came from the Barbaric Archipelago towards the North East. With him he brought Tumble and Toothless. A Terrible Terror and the legendary Night Fury.”

Jake fell out of his seat in shock.

“There is a reason we are all here. We are the people given the powers to help others.

“On this ship we live together and we laugh together. We love together and fight together. When it comes down to it, we will fall together.”

Danny smiled at the younger boy. “Here is a place we allow one another to feel safe. A place you can call home.

“Welcome to the family Hiccup.”  
________________________________________

Hiccup had never been happier.

He was currently laying in the dark, rocking gently to the waves secret song. One scaley ball of warmth was curled on his stomach, soft breaths rising and falling with Hiccups own.

Merida was above him, as far up as she could go without hitting the ceiling. Hiccup could faintly see her dark curls of hair spilling out of the hammock.

Jack’s and Eugene’s hammock were the other closest, just several feet away from him.

His own hammock was tucked into the corner underneath Merida. But unlike on Berk, where he would have felt ostracized, Hiccup was content. He had been asked where he wanted his hammock placed, instead of just shoving him in.

Toothless had claimed the corner of the floor as his own and flopped down with a somewhat satisfied huff. Hiccup had informed Danny that the Night Fury preferred heating up his sleeping spot with his own fire. The young captain had assured the dragon he would have a solution by tomorrow.

Hiccup helped put the hammock just high enough above Toothless to where he could still feel the warmth of his friend, yet Hiccup wouldn't accidentally get knocked off as Toothless shifted.

The stuff that had previously been in the basket had been stuffed sloppily onto the shelves in the corner. The basket was put into storage.

Hiccup had been dragged all over the ship after lunch. Tucker and Jake had grabbed him and sprinted to their workshop. Jazz and Merida shooed them out after they blew up the chairs. (On accident of course.)

Nomicon had snagged him at one point and asked about his experiences in fighting. After another impromptu therapy session, Nomicon announced that Hiccup was to meet him tomorrow at noon for an assessment.

The rest of the day was spent in the company of Spud the navigator.

Spud was an unusual character. Hiccup’s first impression of him was someone not very smart and easily distracted. Spud would often fall into a daze and stare at him without blinking. Then suddenly he would go off on topics not at all relevant to what Hiccup needed to learn.

Hiccup quickly discovered that Spud was not to be underestimated.

Spud had introduced Hiccup to all the shiny toys he used to navigate. He had invented a lot of them himself.

They had climbed up into the crow’s nest and Spud showed Hiccup how to use all of the daytime instruments.

Spud was a genius in his own right. He had his specialities and was easily distracted. But he was a genius.

While Spud was demonstrating each instrument, Hiccup had asked him why he spaced out so much.

The navigator smiled sleepily at him, “Your aura dude. I've never seen anything like it before.”

Hiccup learned how Spud saw the auras of people around him. How their innermost characteristics and intentions unfold before his eyes in a blossoming of color. Every aura as different as each person.

“I can't control it. It comes and goes. So many people out there have disturbing and ugly auras. It hurts my eyes and my heart when I see someone has a rotten aura. But everyone on this ship? They have some of the most beautiful auras I've ever seen, as well as the most unique. Whenever my power comes on, I look at them because I can never get enough. It's almost an addiction.”

They didn't get any farther on the subject. Randy had found them climbing down and demanded Hiccup to show off his flying skills with Toothless.

The whole crew came out to watch them, cheering as Hiccup performed deadly dives, and exhilarating loops. Hiccup relished in the feeling of the clouds on his skin and the wind in his hair. Toothless shared in his happiness.

After impressing them with the flight, and promising races later, they all had dinner together. Well Nomicon had disappeared somewhere and wasn't seen. Heidi had grabbed a plate then rushed out of the room, mumbling something about reports. Danny had forced Tucker and Jake to clean up another explosion of gun powder that had occurred while Hiccup was with Spud. So those two weren't at dinner either. But most of them were. Rapunzel had given him a tailored brown cloak. One that fit perfectly this time.

Jack, Howard, and Tucker had spent the rest of the day trying to come up with the perfect code name. If Hiccup didn't reject one, one of them did. Which only devolved into bickering. Needless to say Hiccup’s code name has not yet been determined.

It was the strangest day he had ever had; including the first few days he first met Toothless. These strangers, these pirates, had found him and took him in. They had made him laugh and smile. They treated him as someone worth listening to.

He fell asleep thinking of all the things the quirky pirates did for him. All of the promises that he knew they would keep. Of all the potential they said he had. He thought of how they welcomed the dragons in as friends, instead of as enemies or weapons.

Hiccup thought about his choice in leaving the only home he had ever known….

And didn't regret a thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * I looked up Norse writing. This was one of the characters. It's kind of like a U, a horseshoe, or an Omega shape.
> 
> And thus ends the Prologue Arc!! Yep. This is only a single arc in a huge series of chapters. This is probably the only story I've actually mapped out and its focus is on Hiccup and his development. But I have HUGE plans for future chapters such as: missions, power reveals, team bonding, inventions galore, pure chaos, and new team members!
> 
> Also, since this IS a "Hiccup runs away from Berk" story, a reunion between the Berkians and the lost heir is a given. But that won't be until more towards the end. I have to let him grow as a person and a hero before I shove his amazingness in Berk's face.
> 
> When I say this story has plans, I mean I have about twenty more chapters just planned out before I even THINK about the reunion arc. I'm sort of pulling ideas from both the shows and movies of all the crew, so it's a lot. Not to mention I keep watching Race to the Edge (no spoilers please, I only just finished season 1) and I keep getting even MORE ideas.
> 
> I hope you guys are ready for the long haul, no matter how long it takes I'm finishing this story!

**Author's Note:**

> This story is DISCLAIMED!
> 
> Let me now what you think about it!
> 
> Until next chapter my viewers of the corn!


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